Louisa Rogers

Making it in the fashion industry isn’t easy. The industry is infamously cutthroat and elitist, but Louisa Rogers proves that it is in fact possible. The Newcastle based fashion entrepreneur has come a long way to where she is now. Born and raised in Brussels, Louisa had gone through London, all the way up to Newcastle to find her place in the fashion world. In our interview, Louisa revealed the hardships she’d faced along the way to where she is now.

Louisa’s passion for fashion had started very early on in her life. And it is no surprise. Her parents used to collect antiques and shop at charity shops and garage shops. Louisa had grown up in a place filled with creativity, so it is no surprise that she possesses so much love and an eye for fashion. Later on in life, Louisa became deeply interested in photography and decided to pursue a career in it. Her parents were not thrilled by the idea but there was nothing that could be done to change her mind. Her parents caved in, though only after the condition that she studies the subject at the “best school in the England”, which she did. Louisa had secured a place in the London College of Fashion. Unfortunately, things did not go as well as she had hoped. The university was too elitist for her liking. In her opinion, fashion (and fashion photography) should be a creative and collaborative experience. Which, at the time, felt unachievable as most people around her thought of fashion as something only available to certain groups. She was more often than not, discouraged by her teachers. To see the people who Louisa thought were going to introduce her to the ins and outs of the fashion world, discouraging her at every step of the way took a toll on Louisa – she had lost the love she had for her craft.

One good thing came out of this situation. In 2015, during her time in London, Louisa started her first business. Noticing not many people were spotting the garments she was, when she went to browse local charity shops, an idea was born. With a keen eye for fashion and knowledge of charity shops, Louisa began to sell what she bought second-hand online for a profit. At first, the sustainability of this was merely a bonus, Louisa was mostly after unique pieces. The world of vintage fashion seemed to be what she was looking for.

The disillusion from LCF was still strong. After graduation, Louisa went back home to Brussels for a year to recuperate. Due to her disappointing experience in London, she felt that she had to prove herself in a more academic field. So, she applied for a few master’s degrees in the UK and chose creative business. Her grades weren’t exactly up to Newcastle University’s expectations so the fact she was accepted was nothing short of shocking. To make up for this, Louisa was determined to be the very best in her course. Newcastle University accepted her into their foundership programme and gave Louisa a grant to develop her business website. Thanks to this, Trendlistr was born. And this business was very similar to what Louisa had done in London.

Work and Volunteering

After graduating from her master’ programme, Louisa chose to stay up north. Here in Newcastle, she started working odd jobs to support herself and her business. Knowing she wanted to stay involved in the local fashion scene, she began working with the northern chapter of the Colour Group, a non-profit organisation focused on, you guessed it, colour. All aspects of it - perception, measurement, reproduction and artistic expression. It was by a mere coincidence that a new opportunity revealed itself during Louisa’s time with the Colour Group. It was during one of their monthly events – speakers are invited to talk about some aspect of colour. This time, the focus of the speech was the psychology of colour and how its meanings changed throughout time. The original speaker wasn’t able to make it for one reason or another and Louisa was asked to take on the task, given her educational background. The event was saved and by the end of it, Louisa was approached by a recruiter from the Northumbria University.

Louisa became a Fashion Communication lecturer in 2018. The course focuses on fashion promotion, PR and fashion photography among other things. As a lecturer, Louisa tries her best to get her students to promote the message of sustainability. The ever-present problem with students is that they don’t always want to give up the cheap and available clothes, and I can only imagine fashion students bring this to a whole new level.

Newcastle University found its home on Esty – an online shop for anything original or homemade you have for sale. This, however, was not her one and only business. Her second business, Studio Courtenay, was founded in October 2020 during the Coronavirus pandemic. It was not the best time for business – in fact, it was quite terrible – and along with the freshly finished Brexit, Louisa needed to branch out. The sourcing for Trendlistr became harder and harder to obtain as they started to rely more on online auctions from all over the world and shipping such amounts of stock got increasingly difficult. Louisa went from reselling vintage clothes to buying unused fabrics, so-called “deadstock”, from textile factories and designing clothes and accessories herself. The beginnings of Studio Courtenay weren’t easy, but Louisa used the free time forced upon her by the pandemic to rethink strategies, “In a way, I was grateful for the pandemic, as it helped me to reassess my priorities and find the right direction”.

That way, jobs are created, and Louisa makes sure her workers are paid fairly. As a business person, a designer and a creative, Louisa prefers a hands-on approach. Local manufacturing has many advantages. Shipping time is cut down

Shopping sustainably can get expensive pretty quickly. The same goes for shopping vintage – the prices in vintage shops can easily go up to double and sometimes even triple digits. But there doesn‘t have to be a compromise when you decide to spend less on clothes.

Business Journey

As I’ve mentioned earlier, Louisa’s business, Trendlistr, was around during this time. What started in 2016 at drastically and Louisa and her team gain practical experience in the business every time they go check on the garments.

Even though sustainability wasn’t on the top of her list at the very beginning of her business journey, Louisa now makes a conscious effort to keep the pollution and fabric waste at a minimum. And business has finally gotten back to the pre-pandemic levels. Sourcing for Studio Courtenay is second-hand. Either from individuals, auctions or warehouses that closed down. Louisa would find unique pieces of clothing and fabric wherever she could. Those fabrics are then locally processed. Cutting, sewing, all that jazz, is done in the Northeast.

Fashion Inspiration

The main feature that stands out when you take a look at Louisa’s designs is their colourfulness and retro vibe. Some of Louisa’s biggest fashion inspirations are Iris Apfel and Moschino and it really shows. Apfel and her designs made Louisa fall in love with maximalism – the style that believes in the “more is best” approach. For those who might not be familiar, maximalism focuses on extravagance, intricate aesthetics and exaggerated silhouettes. And the style is having a comeback as of late, quite possibly due to the monotony of the pandemic days. Funnily enough, before the pandemic and lockdowns, minimalism was on the rise. However, after such a long period of gloom and doom, it is only natural for more eccentric and colourful styles to emerge. Maximalism, with its bright colours, intricate patterns and bold silhouettes was just what people needed to fight the melancholy we were facing.

In a similar fashion to Apfel, Moschino is known for bold designs, colours and patterns. His brand was established in 1983 and by the 90s, Moschino was one of the biggest advocates for social and ecological awareness in the fashion industry. In 1994, Moschino even said that he wished to develop an ecological fashion line that would have the tag of Nature Friendly Garment. And both of these inspirations shine through in Louisa’s designs.

Where to get the stuff

So where can you get Louisa’s designs and what kind of things does she sell? Well, it’s important to mention that Studio Courtenay doesn’t only sell clothing. While fashion is the main focus, Louisa uses as much of the rescued fabrics as she can. So, even after the dresses, skirts and shirts are made, the rest of the deadstock is used for homeware. That’s right, you can get stylish cushions, lampshades or even notebooks with fabric covers. For obvious reasons, the stock for every item is limited. You can only make so many products with a limited amount of materials. But Louisa still offers a wide variety of designs and products to choose from. From skirts and trousers to tote bags, hats, bags and scrunchies, each piece reflects Louisa and her belief that fashion should be unique. Trendlistr is still up and running on Esty but probably not for much longer. Louisa is planning on shutting this side of the business down after selling the stock. The plan after that is to fully focus on Studio Courtenay. Both shops are now available online – Louisa had opened two physical shops in Newcastle before, one in Tynemouth and one near the Newcastle city centre but in the end, it wasn’t worth it. Vintage wasn’t something locals sought out. According to Louisa, Trendlistr made the most sales online and these orders were usually heading out of the UK, mostly to the US. Still, Louisa would love to have a place where people could come and see the goods for themselves. But she would be more open to having a showroom than a regular shop. If you feel like checking out Louisa’s stock (and maybe even buying a thing or two), you can do so at StudioCourtenay.com or, if you’re in more of an online thrift shopping mood, hop on Trendlistr on Etsy before it goes offline!